Chapter 2

I awoke the next morning to the sound of children playing outside. I slipped out of bed and moved across to the window. From the sight that met my eyes it was very easy to believe that this was 1747. At that thought a wave of anxiety hit me, making me feel as though something had hit me very hard in the head. What if I couldn't get back? My sister must be worried sick. What if I'm stuck here forever? And no one will ever know what happened to me. I staggered backwards and sat on the bed. I had taken off my wet clothes to sleep but I was still wrapped in the blanket Jamie had given me the night before. I pulled it tighter around me just as there came a knock at the door which made me jump.

'Annie?' It was him.

'Er, just a moment,' I replied as I tried to better cover myself with the blanket. I noticed a nightdress hanging over the end of the bed, slipped that over my head and opened the door.

'Good morning,' Jamie said, 'how are you feeling today?'

'Fine.' I said, without really thinking about it. He raised his eyebrows.

'Really?' I managed half a smile.

'I've been better.' I said.

'I thought so,' he replied, 'well when you're dressed there's breakfast downstairs waiting, and then we'd best be getting off to those stones.' He looked slightly uneasy as he said this, as though he were trying to put on a brave face. I nodded.

'I'll be right there.'

I closed the door and picked up my clothes from the floor. They were still wet through. Wondering what to do I turned and noticed a dress folded up on the side. I picked it up, the fabric was incredibly heavy, 'my god, how am I supposed to wear this?' I muttered. I unfolded it and studied it a moment. 'How am I supposed to get into this?' After wrestling with the dress for what seemed like an age, I was finally in it. I probably hadn't fastened it up right, but I felt proud of myself for figuring out how to get in it at all and at least I was wearing something dry and warm.

I went downstairs and met with Jamie, who was buttering a piece of bread. He looked up as I entered the room and scoffed at me.

'What?' I asked.

'Your dress is on the wrong way round.' He said smiling.

'Oh.' I replied quietly. I looked down at myself. Now he'd said it, it seemed so obvious. I chuckled, and then I was laughing hard and couldn't stop. The last twenty-four hours had been so gruelling and miserable that having something to laugh at was a welcome release. Jamie laughed too, and I got the feeling he hadn't had reason to laugh in a while either.

'I'll sort it after I've eaten.' I smiled.

After breakfast I headed back up to my room to rectify my fashion faux pas and to gather my things. From the open window, I could hear the woman I had met last night, Jamie's sister, scolding the children playing in the yard. For some reason this made me smile. I collected up my wet clothes from the floor and my phone, still vigilantly telling me the date and time 270 years in the future. I also picked up the blanket off the bed. Before I made my way downstairs, I stopped and took a photo of the hall from the landing. Jamie walked into the shot just as I was taking it.

'What are you doing?' He asked, his eyes wide with an extremely puzzled look on his face.

'Nothing.' I said as I made my way down the stairs, hastily trying to stuff my phone into the pocket of my dress. He studied me frowning for a while before deciding, 'Ah I don't have time to ask, are you ready?'

'Yes,' I replied eagerly, 'am I dressed properly now?' I stood back so he could have a look at me.

'I think so,' he replied. 'It's lucky you're about the same size and build as my sister.'

'Oh, where is she? I'd like to say thank you.' I didn't want these people to think we had lost all manners in the future.

'In the yard with the bairns.' Jamie replied and led the way.

In the yard there were two horses saddled up. A wave of fear came over me. The closest I had ever got to riding a horse was having a donkey ride on the beach at Scarborough when I was little. How on earth was I going to manage to ride, a pretty big now I was up close, horse all the way back across country to Craigh na dun? Jamie, however must have seen the look of terror on my face.

'Can you ride?' He asked. I shook my head.

'I've never ridden a horse.' He frowned at me slightly and then called, 'Fergus, we shan't be needing two horses, only one.' A curly haired boy came running over. 'Jenny's over there.' Jamie said to me, pointing over to a bench where his sister was cleaning a graze on a little boy's knee. I crossed the yard over to her.

'There now, you'd best be a bit more careful, just go steady.' She was saying to the boy. He jumped up and ran off.

'Jenny?' I said as she stood up to face me. We really were of a similar height, both quite short, and both of us quite slender, but with a womanly figure at the same time. We were also both very pale skinned with a sprinkling of freckles on our noses and arms. One major difference though was our hair. Hers was long and dark, tied back in a practical bun, mine chin length and red. Not as dark red as her brothers, but a lighter, fairer red, and all tatty and knotted for having been rained and slept on. 'I wanted to say thank you for letting me stay, and for the dress.' She gave me a quick glance up and down.

'Well you're not wearing it exactly right but the fit's not bad. It's no problem though, I couldn't have left you out in the rain and the cold.' I smiled at her, though she didn't smile back.

'Thank you.' I said again, 'Goodbye.' I walked back over to Jamie, his face looked quite stern but I couldn't tell why.

'Are we ready then?' He asked.

'Yep.' I replied, though he barely waited for my answer and quite unexpectedly hoisted me up and pretty much flung me over the saddle, before plonking himself down behind me.

'You'll be okay Jamie.' Jenny called up to him. I couldn't tell whether it was a statement or a question. He dug his heels into the horse and we were away.

Jamie didn't talk much on the journey. Occasionally he would point things out to me in the landscape or tell me how far away we were, but that was all. Something was weighing heavily on his mind. Very soon my legs began to ache, but Jamie seemed a man on a mission, desperate to get there. There was something about this that made me too scared to ask if we could stop.

At some point in the afternoon, he suddenly slowed down and came to a halt.

'There it is.' He said, though I felt it was as much to himself as it was to me. We stayed looking at the stone circle ahead of us a moment, then set off again, at a much steadier pace this time.

When we at last reached the stones, Jamie slid down off the horse. He stared into the circle for a while, with a severe look on his face. He then turned to help me down. My legs buckled under me immediately, the hurt so badly, but Jamie caught me.

'I'm fine,' I said, 'just a little shaky, but he picked me up and carried me into the circle anyway. He put me down in front of the largest stone and looked down at me frowning.

'Can you hear it?' He asked. I listened. I could hear the wind rustling through the leaves on the trees and through the long grass, and I could hear the sound of my own heart beating hard with anxiety and excitement. For a second I even swore I could hear Jamie's heart beating just as hard and fast too, but I couldn't hear the buzzing sound I had heard before when I had fallen through the stones yesterday morning.

'No.' I said.

'Seems like the stones aren't ready for you to go then.' Jamie said, and he marched off back to the horse.